Wow, AJ, just....., Wow! I was moved to tears more than once, (something I usually reserve for a good rendition of our National Anthem), and even as a non-hunter, I was completely swept up in the every aspect of your story!
Your writing is so descriptive and succinct and moving and so many more adjectives that escape me. You did well to open up this Substack, as the world needs these types of stories just as much if not more as it does your excellent works over on environMENTAL.
Awww, that’s way too kind but I’m pleased that you enjoyed the story. As I noted from the beginning, birds will get harvested and fish will get caught, but they will be the backdrop for my meaningful relationships - in the Cree word Totemtik - “human and all other.”
Pleased you enjoyed. I’ll apologize if this next one hits home and causes some emotion.
Credit where it is due, Sir! You have much more than just a "flair" for writing.
And you and I have both been blessed with wonderful, tolerant women who gave us equally wonderful sons, but we differ in that our shared outdoor pursuits were a mix of motocross, surfing, wakeboarding, camping, snowboarding and hockey!
As I've entered my 60's, (my son is not yet 20), I've put many of those adrenaline-junky sports in my rear-view, but I'll treasure all those memories that my son and I made as he strikes out on his own.
I very much look forward hearing more about your family's adventures. Please keep 'em coming!
You are never too old to find new adrenaline junkie adventures, my friend. Just maybe some that don’t require the risk of injury or quite the physical exertion.
But, I’ll be 62 this fall, and I feel the flow of a river on my legs, and after a mile and a half walk behind dogs through wet pampa grass in Argentina, different today than even 5 yrs ago.
Stay outdoors, my friend.
More stories soon!
And thank you sincerely for your support of borh publications!
Entering my 60's was far more difficult psychologically and physically than my 40's or 50's by far, don't know if it was the same for you. Heck, I was still playing adult league hockey at age 49 until an Achilles tendon injury ended that "career".
But, we'll see what the future holds! We keep an RV at a resort year-round on the Chesapeake Bay, 9 miles due west of Cape Charles where we enjoy quiet white sand beaches without the tourism and highway erosion issues we left behind in the Buxton-to-Frisco NC area that we left behind in 2011.
And I'll be outdoors forever my friend, until such time as my ashes become one with the tidal salt water that courses through my veins.....
Well we have another thing in common. I blew my left Achilles out at 51 and had surgery.
I spent some time on the Outer Banks in the summer as a kid. Surf fishing at Ocracoke was fantastic in the 1970s. I've heard it got touristy long ago.
It was bound to happen I guess. The beaches, the water, and the cottages on spit of land so far off the coast are very unique on either coast of the U.S.
Ain't getting old grand?!? There must be a 50-year use-by date on those things.
Ocracoke has mostly been spared the heavy tourism and McMansions, but they weren't spare from the wrath of the NPS when they went EnVirOnMeNTal on beach driving, which resulted in all the points and spits being closed FOREVER to humans, much less vehicles.
That was the main reason we left after the Summer of 2011, the last Summer before their draconian regulations went into effect. It was during the "Negotiated Rulemaking Process" surrounding the NPS' actions that my I realized the much of the environmental movement is more about controlling human behaviour than caring for critters.
I'd usually tell you to "not get me started" on that stuff, but it's too late. sorry....
Love the color of the story. I truly can relate more than you’d believe. This extra SubStack you’ve added is going to pull a lot of heart strings, it already has. You and Trevor are my get away and fond memories writers and for that I’m very grateful! We’ve had so many great dogs in our life, not a one was ever named Woody. Over the years of training ( all pointing dogs) I’ve only had one Woody, and he was aptly named for Woody from Toy Story. And some people ask so “What’s in a Name”. My reply, a dog’s name is like a character in a great story book, it started out as a pamphlet, but after 30 years I have a novel🙏. Thanks for taking on this journey, I can’t wait for more!
Trevor is a superb writer, so I'm glad to hear that. We've become friends. As great a writer as he is, he's an even better person.
Woody was named for wood ducks, which were resident and very prevalent in N. FL panhandle cypress swamps.
This one is going to have plenty of hunting stories but yes, it's intended to convey more than just hunting and fishing. (Candidly, Trevor is much better at writing stories than I am!)
Both of you guys are writing from your heart and life experiences in many cases. It’s a great way to escape the necessary self education of the other publications I subscribe to. I can see the grasses, water, birds, Woody, you two, the boat, all in a vivid view in my mind. It was very beautiful and enjoyable. My wife loved it too. She’s shot a few birds for me to help with troubled dogs over the years. She has attended a lot of Field Trials along our journey, she’s not competitive by nature so it was always fun to watch the performances from a well gaited and well behaved horse. For her it was the gallery experience, for me I was a fierce competitor until I had all I wanted and then I stopped all together. Now I’m loving training from home and helping boarders check in and out, annd raising a few litters of top notch GSP’s. And having time to spend the day listening to subjects I was not very educated on. The time to learn while I work thru Substack is a blessing for me. Substack is truly a platform like no other.
This is a lovely tribute to true partnership, that state of relationship where both parties are encouraged and supported to be who they truly are. Be thankful A.J.--I know you are--it's not a common thing.
This is one of life's lotteries that I, as it sounds you did too, came out on the winning end. I've know my wife since we were in our early teens. It may sound a bit crass, but one year at Christmas time, her mother asked me to pick her up at the airport. She'd been attending college out of state and would be back for about ten days. We'd always kind of danced around each other when we were younger, but something changed that time. We figured it was brief fling, something we'd look back on when we'd finally sorted our lives out at some u defined point in the future.
A year or two later, I took a job in Colorado. As boom towns generally go, there was about an 1:10 ratio of guys to single females in the area. Getting used to the idea I wasn't going to be dating much gave me plenty of time to wander the mountains near where I lived. Trout streams, Elk, Muley and four kinds of game birds, not counting the ducks and geese migrating made looking for things to do rather easy. I was dropping something off at the owner of the company I worked fors house and there she stood. I don't get tongue tied often, but that day I was struck mute.
A few weeks later we began dating. regularly. Engaged, married, two sons, three granddaughters, and forty years of marriage last June.
She understands that while I'm not necessarily anti social, sometimes as she puts it, i get hard to be around. I make myself scarce and retreat to the cost, the mountains, or the northwoods at least once a year until I'm ready to "play well with others". Every so often in the last 40+ years she'll just look at me and ask, "Isn't it time for one of your trips again?"
She's been known to outfish me and will butcher a deer, hog, or whatever else I drag home and help prepare it for the freezer.
OK you lost me after the Christmas break where you picked her up at the airport coming home from college out of state, but then there she was in Colorado.
How was she at the house of the owner of the company you worked for a couple years later in CO?
Mine won't touch a bit of the bird clearning, but that's OK, I enjoy it!
We lived near each other in the north bay area of California since our early teens. After Christmas break and what we both figured was a brief fling, we figured that was that.
We hadn't seen each other in a while. The job offer was through a friend of her mother's in Colorado. I'd been there a while when she took a job with the family of the guy that owned the company. Was really not expecting to renew our "fling". That was '82, '83.
It's been a hell of a journey and a couple times we almost pulled the plug. We made it through the rough patches and look at it as a partnership. The ups, the downs, and the inbetweens, they're all just part of the package.
Sorry, Dave. I couldn't figure out how to do it once it was already published.
I'm going to see if I can activate that for the next one prior to publishing. If that doesn't work, I'll reach out to Substack support. (I see I can record an audio reading and embed it, but I thought there was an auto reader feature that didn't require a recording.).
Wow, just wow. I could say that you are one of the luckiest people alive, but that probably wouldn't be true, you've worked for it. May all of you have another thirty-four years of pleasure and companionship, and keep petting those labs!
Wow, AJ, just....., Wow! I was moved to tears more than once, (something I usually reserve for a good rendition of our National Anthem), and even as a non-hunter, I was completely swept up in the every aspect of your story!
Your writing is so descriptive and succinct and moving and so many more adjectives that escape me. You did well to open up this Substack, as the world needs these types of stories just as much if not more as it does your excellent works over on environMENTAL.
Keep 'em coming!
Awww, that’s way too kind but I’m pleased that you enjoyed the story. As I noted from the beginning, birds will get harvested and fish will get caught, but they will be the backdrop for my meaningful relationships - in the Cree word Totemtik - “human and all other.”
Pleased you enjoyed. I’ll apologize if this next one hits home and causes some emotion.
Credit where it is due, Sir! You have much more than just a "flair" for writing.
And you and I have both been blessed with wonderful, tolerant women who gave us equally wonderful sons, but we differ in that our shared outdoor pursuits were a mix of motocross, surfing, wakeboarding, camping, snowboarding and hockey!
As I've entered my 60's, (my son is not yet 20), I've put many of those adrenaline-junky sports in my rear-view, but I'll treasure all those memories that my son and I made as he strikes out on his own.
I very much look forward hearing more about your family's adventures. Please keep 'em coming!
You are never too old to find new adrenaline junkie adventures, my friend. Just maybe some that don’t require the risk of injury or quite the physical exertion.
But, I’ll be 62 this fall, and I feel the flow of a river on my legs, and after a mile and a half walk behind dogs through wet pampa grass in Argentina, different today than even 5 yrs ago.
Stay outdoors, my friend.
More stories soon!
And thank you sincerely for your support of borh publications!
Entering my 60's was far more difficult psychologically and physically than my 40's or 50's by far, don't know if it was the same for you. Heck, I was still playing adult league hockey at age 49 until an Achilles tendon injury ended that "career".
But, we'll see what the future holds! We keep an RV at a resort year-round on the Chesapeake Bay, 9 miles due west of Cape Charles where we enjoy quiet white sand beaches without the tourism and highway erosion issues we left behind in the Buxton-to-Frisco NC area that we left behind in 2011.
And I'll be outdoors forever my friend, until such time as my ashes become one with the tidal salt water that courses through my veins.....
Well we have another thing in common. I blew my left Achilles out at 51 and had surgery.
I spent some time on the Outer Banks in the summer as a kid. Surf fishing at Ocracoke was fantastic in the 1970s. I've heard it got touristy long ago.
It was bound to happen I guess. The beaches, the water, and the cottages on spit of land so far off the coast are very unique on either coast of the U.S.
Ain't getting old grand?!? There must be a 50-year use-by date on those things.
Ocracoke has mostly been spared the heavy tourism and McMansions, but they weren't spare from the wrath of the NPS when they went EnVirOnMeNTal on beach driving, which resulted in all the points and spits being closed FOREVER to humans, much less vehicles.
That was the main reason we left after the Summer of 2011, the last Summer before their draconian regulations went into effect. It was during the "Negotiated Rulemaking Process" surrounding the NPS' actions that my I realized the much of the environmental movement is more about controlling human behaviour than caring for critters.
I'd usually tell you to "not get me started" on that stuff, but it's too late. sorry....
Love the color of the story. I truly can relate more than you’d believe. This extra SubStack you’ve added is going to pull a lot of heart strings, it already has. You and Trevor are my get away and fond memories writers and for that I’m very grateful! We’ve had so many great dogs in our life, not a one was ever named Woody. Over the years of training ( all pointing dogs) I’ve only had one Woody, and he was aptly named for Woody from Toy Story. And some people ask so “What’s in a Name”. My reply, a dog’s name is like a character in a great story book, it started out as a pamphlet, but after 30 years I have a novel🙏. Thanks for taking on this journey, I can’t wait for more!
Thanks, Dave. That means a lot.
Trevor is a superb writer, so I'm glad to hear that. We've become friends. As great a writer as he is, he's an even better person.
Woody was named for wood ducks, which were resident and very prevalent in N. FL panhandle cypress swamps.
This one is going to have plenty of hunting stories but yes, it's intended to convey more than just hunting and fishing. (Candidly, Trevor is much better at writing stories than I am!)
the hunting and fishing is just part of the journey…. The journey is the whole book!
Both of you guys are writing from your heart and life experiences in many cases. It’s a great way to escape the necessary self education of the other publications I subscribe to. I can see the grasses, water, birds, Woody, you two, the boat, all in a vivid view in my mind. It was very beautiful and enjoyable. My wife loved it too. She’s shot a few birds for me to help with troubled dogs over the years. She has attended a lot of Field Trials along our journey, she’s not competitive by nature so it was always fun to watch the performances from a well gaited and well behaved horse. For her it was the gallery experience, for me I was a fierce competitor until I had all I wanted and then I stopped all together. Now I’m loving training from home and helping boarders check in and out, annd raising a few litters of top notch GSP’s. And having time to spend the day listening to subjects I was not very educated on. The time to learn while I work thru Substack is a blessing for me. Substack is truly a platform like no other.
This is a lovely tribute to true partnership, that state of relationship where both parties are encouraged and supported to be who they truly are. Be thankful A.J.--I know you are--it's not a common thing.
Correct.
One of the luckiest men who ever walked planet earth.
A fortune that cannot be quantified or measured in dollars or the material.....
This is one of life's lotteries that I, as it sounds you did too, came out on the winning end. I've know my wife since we were in our early teens. It may sound a bit crass, but one year at Christmas time, her mother asked me to pick her up at the airport. She'd been attending college out of state and would be back for about ten days. We'd always kind of danced around each other when we were younger, but something changed that time. We figured it was brief fling, something we'd look back on when we'd finally sorted our lives out at some u defined point in the future.
A year or two later, I took a job in Colorado. As boom towns generally go, there was about an 1:10 ratio of guys to single females in the area. Getting used to the idea I wasn't going to be dating much gave me plenty of time to wander the mountains near where I lived. Trout streams, Elk, Muley and four kinds of game birds, not counting the ducks and geese migrating made looking for things to do rather easy. I was dropping something off at the owner of the company I worked fors house and there she stood. I don't get tongue tied often, but that day I was struck mute.
A few weeks later we began dating. regularly. Engaged, married, two sons, three granddaughters, and forty years of marriage last June.
She understands that while I'm not necessarily anti social, sometimes as she puts it, i get hard to be around. I make myself scarce and retreat to the cost, the mountains, or the northwoods at least once a year until I'm ready to "play well with others". Every so often in the last 40+ years she'll just look at me and ask, "Isn't it time for one of your trips again?"
She's been known to outfish me and will butcher a deer, hog, or whatever else I drag home and help prepare it for the freezer.
I'll never understand how I got so lucky.
OK you lost me after the Christmas break where you picked her up at the airport coming home from college out of state, but then there she was in Colorado.
How was she at the house of the owner of the company you worked for a couple years later in CO?
Mine won't touch a bit of the bird clearning, but that's OK, I enjoy it!
We lived near each other in the north bay area of California since our early teens. After Christmas break and what we both figured was a brief fling, we figured that was that.
We hadn't seen each other in a while. The job offer was through a friend of her mother's in Colorado. I'd been there a while when she took a job with the family of the guy that owned the company. Was really not expecting to renew our "fling". That was '82, '83.
It's been a hell of a journey and a couple times we almost pulled the plug. We made it through the rough patches and look at it as a partnership. The ups, the downs, and the inbetweens, they're all just part of the package.
I'm a lucky dog.
Can you activate the reader option, working outside all day, love to listen if possible. Thanks in advance!
Gonna give that a go right now, Dave. Stand by!
Thank you
(Haven't figured it out yet.... sorry....still trying!)
It’s usually on all articles that are published. I have time tonight to sit down and read this, can’t wait.
Sorry, Dave. I couldn't figure out how to do it once it was already published.
I'm going to see if I can activate that for the next one prior to publishing. If that doesn't work, I'll reach out to Substack support. (I see I can record an audio reading and embed it, but I thought there was an auto reader feature that didn't require a recording.).
Wow, just wow. I could say that you are one of the luckiest people alive, but that probably wouldn't be true, you've worked for it. May all of you have another thirty-four years of pleasure and companionship, and keep petting those labs!